Discussion

Dean & Deluca - Newport?

Does anyone have any info about when the new Dean & Deluca will open in Fashion Island, Newport Beach? The signs originally said Summer 2009, but when I looked a few weeks ago, they seemed to be nowhere close to opening....and I've been hearing rumors about a "delay".

D&D's own web site originally said opening was scheduled for Fall of 2009. I can't imagine that they would be dialing that back to open sooner based on the state of the economy and the way that these things always drag out.

The last info re Dean & Deluca is that it will open in May or June of 2010. This info has been corroborated by three souces...DD offices in NYC, DD management at their Napa Valley store, and the Fashion Island management. All say the same thing. The opening was initially delayed to early 2010 by the tanking economy. It has now been delayed a second time because of a redesign of the bakery. It was decided to move the bakery/cafe to a location in the store where it could be accessed directly from the parking lot without entering the store. This is to allow the bakery/cafe to have longer opening hours than the rest of the store. This does make sense. So...if the latest rumors are correct, we'll have a DD in OC in about 6 months!

I searched the last month of the Wall St. Journal and found nothing about any change in Dean & Deluca's financial standing, so I sent D&D an email demanding either a full, complete, and timely explanation or, at least, a free tin of Beluga to help me get through this trauma.

I finally received a response from D&D. It was mostly boilerplate -- plus: "At this time we have no imminent plans to move forward in Newport Beach and for the time being, we will focus more attentively on our existing markets and website." (I had asked whether they were looking at other sites in Southern California.)

So, no offer of caviar, not even Texas caviar, the kind made from river-swimming black-eyed peas.

Although I had been looking forward to them coming here ever since it was announced waaay back when, I'm not sure them not opening here is a bad thing, after all.

We visited the Napa Valley location a few weeks ago, and maybe I'm just getting jaded, but in this current economy, it just seemed out of whack on many levels - very decadent (how many "artisinal, gourmet" smoked salts do we really need, after all ? ) and very high markups all around. I used to lust after many of the items, but I came away a bit turned-off, honestly. We ended up having a tremendous burger at Taylor's Automatic Refresher, and loving it.

We do have some really good resources for high-end products here in OC, they're just spread-out over numerous locations. I was just at Frog's Breath cheese shop in Orange last weekend, and picked up some amazing cheeses and a great wine at a reasonable markup, with some locally made baguette. Good stuff !

Dean and Deluca happily ignore the locavore movement. It's all about ice creams flown in from Berthillon and pernil serrà (that they get from La Española anyway) and fruit flown in from all over the world.

While I'm not such a greenhouse gas alarmist as some people I know, this is pretty much Carbongeddon as far as food goes. If I lived in Wyoming and had no fresh vegetables in winter, it might be one thing, but I live in Orange County, and I can get decent country-style ham and ice cream and fruit and vegetables from within, say, 300 miles instead of 6000.